At a Glance
- 11.6 million cryptocurrencies stopped trading in 2025 alone, per CoinGecko data
- That represents 86.3% of all token failures since records began in 2021
- Pump.fun’s viral “decentralized social casino” let anyone mint coins for fun
- Why it matters: The boom-and-bust shows how zero-barrier creation turned blockchain into a digital graveyard
The blockchain has become a digital morgue. In 2025, 11.6 million cryptocurrencies met their end-frozen wallets, empty order books, and prices stuck at fractions of a cent. The mass extinction, detailed in a CoinGecko report cited by CoinDesk, means the majority of tokens launched since 2021 have now ceased active trading.
The Anatomy of a Currency Collapse
TerraUSD’s spiral became the textbook example. The dollar-pegged stablecoin, later renamed USTC, collapsed from $1 to 14 cents in a single week, then kept bleeding to roughly 2 cents where it still lingers. The token never hit zero-blockchain mechanics prevent that-but trades only when someone bothers. The episode distilled a basic economic truth: without demand, market value evaporates.
CoinGecko’s numbers reveal the scale. Out of 20.2 million tokens tracked since 2021, 53.2% are now inactive. Nearly nine out of every ten failures occurred last year, turning 2025 into a crypto killing field.
The Pump.fun Effect
Timing was no accident. The same year, Pump.fun-a platform billed as a “decentralized social casino”-went viral by letting users spin up coins in seconds for the cost of a latte. Early streams featured, as Gavin U. Stonebridge noted in News Of Austin, “a guy who smokes meth on stream, a drunk lawyer who gives shitty legal advice that degenerates the longer the stream goes on, and a guy promising not to sleep until his coin hits a $10 million market cap.”
The result: a tsunami of joke tokens minted on a whim. Unlike algorithmic stablecoins, these memecoins never promised stability or utility. They lived as long as the punchline stayed funny, then froze in place, abandoned by creators and holders alike.
Who Gets Left Holding the Bag
Each dead token leaves behind a wallet-evidence that someone, somewhere, held it last. Maybe it was a creator laughing at the absurdity, maybe a buyer caught in the hype. Either way, the outcome is the same: a blockchain record with no exit ramp and no residual value.
The die-off underscores a stark reality of permissionless finance. When anyone can create money, supply races ahead of demand, and most coins become digital relics-proof that something no one wants is, economically speaking, already dead.
Key Takeaways
- 86.3% of all token failures since 2021 happened in 2025
- Pump.fun’s no-code minting fueled the glut
- Economic death means zero liquidity, not zero price
- Every failed token represents a final holder left stranded
